The Bird Study Book

The Bird Study Book, by Thomas
Gilbert

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Gilbert Pearson, Illustrated by Will Simmons
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Title: The Bird Study Book
Author: Thomas Gilbert Pearson

Release Date: April 8, 2007 [eBook #21007]
Language: English
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THE BIRD STUDY BOOK
by
T. GILBERT PEARSON
Secretary, National Association of Audubon Societies
Coloured Frontispiece
Pen and ink drawings by Will Simmons
And sixteen photographs

[Frontispiece: Wood Thrush]

Garden City ------ New York Doubleday, Page & Company 1917
Copyright, 1917, by Doubleday, Page & Company All rights reserved,
including that of translation into foreign languages, including the
Scandinavian

TO MY WIFE

ELSIE WEATHERLY PEARSON

{v}
PREFACE
This book has been written for the consideration of that ever-increasing
class of Americans who are interested in acquiring a greater familiarity
with the habits and activities of wild birds. There are many valuable
publications treating more or less exhaustively of the classification of
birds, as well as of form, colour, distribution, migration, songs, and
foods. Here an attempt is made to place before the reader a brief
consideration of these and many similar topics, and suggest lines of
action and thought that may perhaps stimulate a fuller study of the
subject. Attention is also given to the relation of birds to mankind and
the effect of civilisation on the bird-life of the country. The book is not
intended so much for the advanced student in ornithology, as for the
beginner. Its purpose is to answer many of the questions that students
in this charming field of outdoor study are constantly asking of those
more advanced in bird-lore. In conformity with the custom employed
during many years of college and summer-school teaching, the author
has discussed numerous details of field observation, the importance of
which is so often overlooked by writers on the subject.
If one can, in the recounting of some experience that he has found
interesting, awaken in the mind of a sympathetic hearer a desire to go
forth and acquire a similar experience, then indeed may he regard
himself as a worthy disciple of the immortal Pestalozzi. Let the teacher
who would instruct pupils in bird-study first acquire, therefore, that
love for the subject which is sure to come when one begins to learn the
birds and observe their movements. This book, it is hoped, will aid
such seekers after truth by the simple means of pointing out some of
the interesting things that may be sought and readily found in the field
and by the open road.
In the preparation of this volume much valuable aid has been received

from Messrs. E. W. Nelson, F. E. L. Beal, Wells W. Cooke, T. S.
Palmer, H. C. Oberholser, and others of the United States Biological
Survey, for which the author desires to make grateful acknowledgment.
Parts of some of the chapters have previously appeared in the
"Craftsman Magazine" and "Country Life in America," and are here
reproduced by the courtesy of the editors.
T. GILBERT PEARSON.

{ix}
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
CHAPTER
I.
FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE BIRDS . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Caution in Nest Hunting--Going Afield--Notebooks--Reporting
Blanks--Bird Books--Movements of Birds--Artificial Cover in
Hiding--The Umbrella Blind--Conclusion.
II. THE LIFE ABOUT THE NEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Nest Hunting--Behaviour when Nest Is Discovered--Lessons to Be
Learned--Character of Material Used--Nests in Holes--Variety of
Locations--Variation in Families--Meagre Nests.
III. DOMESTIC LIFE OF THE BIRDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Parental Care of Young--Sharing the Labours--Length of Mated

Life--A Much-married Bluebird--The Faithful Canada Geese--Unmated
Birds--Polygamy Among Birds--The Outcast.
IV. THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Moulting--Why Birds